Non-thermal plasma needle as an effective tool in dimethoate removal from water

Tatjana Mitrović; Saša Lazović; Branislav Nastasijević; Igor A Pašti; Vesna Vasić; Tamara Lazarević-Pašti

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.143

Non-thermal plasma needle as an effective tool in dimethoate removal from water

J Environ Manage. 2019 Sep 15:246:63-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.143. Epub 2019 Jun 4.

Authors

Tatjana Mitrović¹, Saša Lazović², Branislav Nastasijević³, Igor A Pašti⁴, Vesna Vasić⁵, Tamara Lazarević-Pašti⁶

Affiliations

¹ The Jaroslav Cerni Institute for the Development of Water Resources, Jaroslava Cernog 80, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: tatjana.mitrovic@jcerni.rs.
² Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 118, 11080, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: lazovic@ipb.ac.rs.
³ Department of Physical Chemistry, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, Mike Petrovića Alasa 12-14, P. O. Box 522, 11001, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: branislav@vin.bg.ac.rs.
⁴ University of Belgrade, Faculty of Physical Chemistry, Studentski Trg 12-16, 11158, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: evasic@vin.bg.ac.rs.
⁵ Department of Physical Chemistry, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, Mike Petrovića Alasa 12-14, P. O. Box 522, 11001, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: igor@ffh.bg.ac.rs.
⁶ Department of Physical Chemistry, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, University of Belgrade, Mike Petrovića Alasa 12-14, P. O. Box 522, 11001, Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: tamara@vin.bg.ac.rs.

PMID: 31174031
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.143

Abstract

Intensive use of pesticides requires innovative approaches for their removal from the environment. Here we report the method for degradation of dimethoate in water using non-thermal plasma needle and analyze kinetics of dimethoate removal and possible degradation pathways. The effects of dimethoate initial concentration, plasma treatment time, Argon flow rate and the presence of radical promoters on the effectiveness of proposed method are evaluated. With argon flow rate of 0.5 slm (standard litres per minute) 1 × 10^-4 M dimethoate can be removed within 30 min of treatment. Using UPLC analysis it was confirmed that one of the decomposition products is dimethoate oxo-analogue omethoate, which is in fact more toxic than dimethoate. However, the overall toxicity of contaminated water was reduced upon the treatment. The addition of H₂O₂ as a free radical promoter enhances dimethoate removal, while K₂S₂O₈ results with selective conversion to omethoate. Using mass spectrometry in combination with the theoretical calculations, possible degradation pathways were proposed. The feasibility of the proposed method for dimethoate degradation in real water samples is confirmed. The proposed method is demonstrated as a highly effective approach for dimethoate removal without significant accumulation of undesirable toxic products and secondary waste.

Keywords: Degradation; Dimethoate; Non-thermal plasma; Omethoate; Organophosphate pesticides; Plasma needle.

MeSH terms

Dimethoate*
Hydrogen Peroxide
Kinetics
Pesticides*
Water

Substances

Pesticides
Water
Hydrogen Peroxide
Dimethoate